Styrax

#### Styrax. ##### I: Asian Styrax: **Styrax**, occasionally called **Storax**, is a natural balsam (see Part One of this work: **Balsam**), formed as a pathological product in the sapwood and bark tissues of **Liquidambar**** ****Orientalis**, a medium-sized tree native to Asia Minor and the surrounding islands. The name **Liquidambar**** **is derived from the French "liquid ambre". The tree is wildgrowing, and does not have to be felled in order to yield styrax. The bark is removed spotwise, and the sapwood is deliberately injured. Styrax is formed and collected in cans below the wounds or scraped off the wound. The peeled bark can be boiled in water to yield an additional amount of styrax. The entire yield is "cleaned" by washing in boiling water. The water is decanted, and the heavier styrax collected on hairsifts or linen filters. However, when packed in cans, the styrax still contains up to 25% water. The water is usually found on top of the styrax. A sandy, grayish mass will deposit at the bottom, consisting mainly of dirt, sand, etc. Obviously, such matter is unwanted in a perfumery material, and various methods of further cleaning or "clarifying" the styrax have been suggested: - Drying with anhydrous sodium sulphate, prior to extraction with benzene. This yields a true resinoid of styrax. - Extraction with alcohol (ethyl alcohol or, rarely, methyl alcohol). Several extractions are necessary if the water content is high. The alcoholic extracts are subsequently dried with anhydrous sodium sulfate or the like prior to evaporation of the extract in mild vacuum. This leads to a so-called "resin-absolute" of styrax. - Direct extraction of the crude styrax with an odorless, high-boiling solvent, e.g. diethyl phthalate. Prior to this extraction, a test is run on the raw material in order to determine the exact content of "oil-soluble matter" in the crude styrax. Then, a calculated amount of diethyl phthalate is added, e.g. exactly enough to make e.g. a 50% solution of the "resinoid" in diethyl phthalate. The water will separate, and the dirt remains undissolved. The viscous liquid can be warm-filtered, yielding a clear and pourable 50% styrax resinoid, soluble in all conventional perfume materials, but not in paraffin oil, and not soluble without turbidity in alcohol. For further details, see monograph on **Styrax Resinoid**. Asian **Styrax **is a very viscous or semiliquid mass of greenish-gray to brownish gray color, usually showing water on the surface and a heterogeneous semi-solid mass of darker color at the bottom of the container. The styrax itself is sticky and usually non-pourable at room temperature. The water-free portion is almost completely soluble in alcohol. It contains substantial amounts of cinnamic acid (which should be considered when styrax is used in soap perfumes). Also, when the styrax is extracted with hot alcohol or with alcohol under reflux, it must be remembered that significant amounts of ethyl cinnamate are formed and carried over in the extract. This type of extract is thus not truly representative of natural styrax. Asian styrax is rarely used as such in perfumery. Only well cleaned products or extracts are suitable for perfumes. See the monographs on **Styrax Oil **and **Styrax Resinoid.** ##### II: American Styrax: A product similar to the above Asian styrax is produced from certain varieties of the large tree, **Liquidambar Styraciflua**, wild growing in the eastern and southern U. S. A., in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. This balsam is collected in Honduras and, to a lesser extent in Guatemala, Central America. The balsam is a pathological exudation which accumulates in "pockets" in older trees. Incisions in the bark or other damaging of the trees thus is not necessary. The pockets are tapped on the living trees. There is little or no cleaning operation of the collected balsam. Like the Asian styrax, the Honduras balsam is shipped in 5-gallon kerosene tins. Shipments in 55-gallon second-hand iron drums is becoming more common. The balsam is usually darker, but cleaner than Asian styrax. The odor of American (Honduras) styrax, however, is more "gasolinelike" (styrene-odor), covering the balsamic sweetness of the main ingredients of the balsam. The two products are used for quite similar purposes in perfumery. On account of the subdued styrene odor, the Asian balsam is generally preferred. However, when resinoids are prepared, the two products become almost identical since the styrene is partially or totally lost during the evaporation. Some perfumers even prefer the pronounced styrene note because of the apparent power displayed by this unsaturated hydrocarbon. **Styrax **balsams are occasionally adulterated with odorless, high-boiling solvents, but adulteration of the crude material is rare. More frequently, the resinoids, etc. are "cut" or "stretched" with diluents such as diethyl phthalate, benzyl benzoate, benzyl alcohol, cinnamic acid, various cinnamates, deodorized hydrogenated methyl abietate, isopropyl myristate, etc. ---